Professional Development

I was just reading Dr. W. Edwards Demings 14 principles of Total Quality Management. It is indeed very impressive and interesting. I have tried to collect a few of the important resources related to the same over here.

Dr. Demings’s 14 principles

Create a constant purpose toward improvement

Adopt the new philosophy

Cease dependence on mass inspection

Use a single supplier for any one item

Improve every process

Create training on the job

Adopt and institute leadership aimed at helping people do a better job

Drive out fear

Break down barriers between departments

Get rid of unclear slogans

Eliminate arbitrary numerical targets

Permit pride of workmanship

Implement education and self-improvement

Make transformation everyone’s job

Here are few other interesting resources related to Dr. W Edwards Demings

Here is the Official YouTube channel of Demings Institute. They have excellent videos and I strongly encourage everyone to view them. Additionally, here is the famous Deming’s Red Bead Experiment Video.

Before I end the post I would like to include the video of Daniel Pink who has authored books Drive, which is very motivational book and often time I felt it resonated with the same message as Dr. Demings. This video is from TED presentation of Dan where he discussed The Puzzle of Motivation.

Today is Dec 31st and last day of the year. I suggest everyone should go out and meet friends & family. At least everyone should spend their time with people they like and have fun with. In past many times, I have gone out to a new years party, however, I have not enjoyed the parties much as I find it too busy. In recent years, I have been spending time watching my favorite movies with my wife, daughter and few friends. Here is the list of the movies, I have watched in my recent past and I believe if you are going to spend time watching the movie, this is a classic list of the movies developers like.

Please note they are just listed in the order I have watched in the past. The list does not suggest that one movie is better than the other.

1. Star Wars Any list detailing influential movies on technical (“geeky”) people is going to have Star Wars and Star Trek (see below) at the very top. This genre of movie, and these two ground breaking examples, opened up people’s minds to the idea of technology, how it affects us, and how to control it. A career in technology was the next logical step.

2. Star Trek The reasons that Star Trek and Star Wars is so influential was briefly covered above, but the two deserve separate listings for their very different scope and style. Star Trek is often described as more “philosophical,” which made many viewers question technology and its implications even more deeply.

3. The Matrix Is it any wonder than people whose whole life revolves around computers were drawn to a movie about computer literally controlling your life? The awe-inspiring special effects, catchy story line, and heart-pounding action scenes didn’t hurt this movies’ popularity, either.

4. Blade Runner Blade Runner was a movie that, on its surface, was about a police officer tasked with tracking down four escaped criminals. However, the criminals were robots indistinguishable from human beings, and the movie was set in the not-so-distant future of 2019 (even closer now than when the movie was released in 1982). The way the future was depicted, particularly the technology and its impact on society, has made this movie into a cult classic that developers are still discussing today. It was also one of the first movies ever released on DVD, so the “new technology” edge also makes it popular with the DBA crowd.

5. Wall-E This is another movie set in the future, but told from the point of view of two robots. Wall-E is a humble trash-collecting robot, who has continued to bundle the discarded remains of human society 700 years after humans have abandoned their ruined planet Earth. The overt themes of the movie are clearly about caring for the environment and each other, but there are also hidden themes of how technology can help the world, but hide problems that humans don’t want to think about. There is also a clear comparison between two rival camps – Microsoft and Apple – that added humor to the whole movie.

6. Iron Man/Batman Super hero movies are the traditional favorite of the technology fan. There is something about being able to change the world with your unique powers that appeals to that crowd in particular. However, superheroes who are normal people, whose enhanced powers come from technology are going to boost these movies into the “best of the best” category.

7. The Social Network This is a movie directly speaking about technology and the one man who created the most popular social media platforms of the modern world. It is timely, thought-provoking, and a must-see for anyone who wants to follow in (or avoid) the same footsteps as Mark Zuckerberg.

8. Avatar This movie influenced developers not only for its story line and special effects, but because of the kind of technology that went into making the movie with it’s amazing effects and 3-D visuals. It was one of the top grossing films of all time, and the only question is how much of that money is due to repeated viewings by DBAs.

9. Minority Report While this movie has been criticized for its acting, story line, and casting choices, it remains an important part of the DBA “canon” because of the way technology is portrayed – the furthest point it can be taken, used, and abused. Tom Cruise plays a police officer who uses technology to stop “future crimes,” sparking debates about free will, technological capabilities, and human responsibility. Starting conversations about the role of technology in every aspect of human life in an important job.

10. 2001: A Space Odyssey This classic movie is both the pinnacle and the blueprint for every sci-fi movie that came afterward. While the year 2001 is now part of the past, taking a look at how humans see technology, where we think it should be used versus how it is used, and the dangers of all of the above, makes this movie too important to leave off any list of “influential films.”

If you believe I have missed adding any film, leave a comment over here.

If you are working in IT industry, you must encounter software developer around every corner of the office. I am developer myself and pretty much my all friends are developers too. I have created a list of phrases which developer use often. Feel free to add one of yours as a comment as well.

1. I can fix that.
This is usually followed by hours of growling in frustration.

2. Just a minute…
This one is also usually followed by hours of growling in frustration.

3. Let me see that.
Developers are “hands on” type of people. If something is going wrong, they don’t want to watch you fight with it over your shoulder, they want to get their hands on it and fix it themselves.

4. That’s not my code.
When a bug is found, usually it’s “all hands on deck” to figure out where the problem came from and how to fix it. And when you can pinpoint who caused the problem, well, everyone loves to find a scapegoat!

5. “End of Day”
This phrase gets tossed around a lot. It represents the final culmination of all programmers’ hopes, dreams, and aspirations. It also makes a neat talking point.

6. You wouldn’t understand
Developers’ jobs are hard. They involve complex ideas, hours of intense work, and a lot of pressure. Helping lay-people understand this work in also difficult, and sometimes ends in failure. This phrase is the easy way out.

7. Let me Google that…
If you come across a problem, chances are someone has met up with the same issue. That’s what the internet and forums are for – searching for the solution.

8. Where is the documentation?
Documenting your code as you write it is incredibly important – especially if others will be using the program. Running across a program with no documentation is frustrating, to put it mildly.

9. Coffee break!
There is a joke: programmers turn caffeine and pizza into code. While this is clearly meant ironically, it is true that sometimes a little break can help your brain find the break through to a solution.

10. That’s not a bug, it’s a function!
Meant as a joke, but sometimes so true…

If you think there should be a quote which can join this list, leave a comment.

Applying for work can be very stressful – you want to put your best foot forward, and it can be very hard to sell yourself to a potential employer while highlighting your best characteristics and answering questions. On top of that, some jobs require different application materials – a biography (or bio), a curriculum vitae (or CV), or a resume. These things seem so interchangeable, so what is the difference?

Let’s start with the one most of us have heard of – the resume. A resume is a summary of your job and education history. If you have ever applied for a job, you will have used a resume. The ability to write a good resume that highlights your best characteristics and emphasizes your qualifications for a specific job is a skill that will take you a long way in the world. For such an essential skill, unfortunately it is one that many people struggle with.

RESUME

So let’s discuss what makes a great resume. First, make sure that your name and contact information are at the top, in large print (slightly larger font than the rest of the text, size 14 or 16 if the rest is size 12, for example). You need to make sure that if you catch the recruiter’s attention and they know how to get a hold of you.

As for qualifications, be quick and to the point. Make your job title and the company the headline, and include your skills, accomplishments, and qualifications as bullet points. Use good action verbs, like “finished,” “arranged,” “solved,” and “completed.” Include hard numbers – don’t just say you “changed the filing system,” say that you “revolutionized the storage of over 250 files in less than five days.” Doesn’t that sentence sound much more powerful?

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Now let’s talk about curriculum vitae, or “CVs”. A CV is more like an expanded resume. The same rules are still true: put your name front and center, keep your contact info up to date, and summarize your skills with bullet points. However, CVs are often required in more technical fields – like science, engineering, and computer science. This means that you need to really highlight your education and technical skills.

Difference between Resume and CV

Resumes are expected to be one or two pages long – CVs can be as many pages as necessary. If you are one of those people lucky enough to feel limited by the size constraint of resumes, a CV is for you! On a CV you can expand on your projects, highlight really exciting accomplishments, and include more educational experience – including GPA and test scores from the GRE or MCAT (as applicable). You can also include awards, associations, teaching and research experience, and certifications. A CV is a place to really expand on all your experience and how great you will be in this particular position.

Biography (Bio)

Chances are, you already know what a bio is, and you have even read a few of them. Think about the one or two paragraphs that every author includes in the back flap of a book. Think about the sentences under a blogger’s photo on every “About Me” page. That is a bio. It is a way to quickly highlight your life experiences. It is essentially the way you would introduce yourself at a party.

Where a bio is required for a job, chances are they won’t want to know about where you were born and how many pets you have, though. This is a way to summarize your entire job history in quick-to-read format – and sometimes during a job hunt, being able to get to the point and grab the recruiter’s interest is the best way to get your foot in the door. Think of a bio as your entire resume put into words.

Most bios have a standard format. In paragraph one, talk about your most recent position and accomplishments there, specifically how they relate to the job you are applying for. If you have teaching or research experience, training experience, certifications, or management experience, talk about them in paragraph two. Paragraph three and four are for highlighting publications, education, certifications, associations, etc. To wrap up your bio, provide your contact info and availability (dates and times).

Where to use What?

For most positions, you will know exactly what kind of application to use, because the job announcement will state what materials are needed – resume, CV, bio, cover letter, skill set, etc. If there is any confusion, choose whatever the industry standard is (CV for technical fields, resume for everything else) or choose which of your documents is the strongest.

Professional Development is very important part of the developer’s career. It is never too early to learn about professional development as well it is never too late to learn about it. Professional development helps developer in personal growth as well as career advancement. There has been a lot of requests to me for sharing some of the professional development methodology I follow. I am glad to announce additional of this new series in SQLAuthority.com blog. Nupur Dave will be leading this series and I will participate often. This series will talk about everything which we practice related to Professional Development. Nupur has extensive experience with human psychology and have a masters degree in education. She will share some of her experience over here in the video as well in the blog posts.

The very first blog video is about procrastination – something we all have been victims during our lifetime. There are always cases when we want to do things later on or tomorrow even though we know it is very important to do that now. Procrastination is putting off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness. In simple words – let’s do it tomorrow attitude. There are three major reasons for Procrastination.

Laziness or Ignorance

Fear of Failure or Fear of Success

Perfectionism or Flawlessness

In this video Nupur discusses how we can identify that we are procrastinating and later explains how to overcome the nature of procrastination. This 160 second video teaches one very important lesson for all of us develop.

Let us not procrastinate and watch the video right away:

Please leave a comment regarding what would you like to hear and listen next.

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About Pinal Dave

Pinal Dave is a Pluralsight Developer Evangelist. He has authored 11 SQL Server database books, 17 Pluralsight courses and have written over 3200 articles on the database technology on his blog at a http://blog.sqlauthority.com. Along with 11+ years of hands on experience he holds a Masters of Science degree and a number of certifications, including MCTS, MCDBA and MCAD (.NET). His past work experiences include Technology Evangelist at Microsoft and Sr. Consultant at SolidQ. Follow @pinaldave
Send Author Pinal Dave
an email at pinal@sqlauthority.com

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